02/07/2024 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #24-06
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16 in attendance on 2/7/2024 at UNO Park Community Center for a Lunar New Year themed Gamenite, celebrating the Year of the Dragon.
Our 2/14/2024 session will be a request night – what games did you miss the first time they were played? What new arrivals have our table leader received and are preparing to teach to the group?
Sean has revised our Google Forms RSVP system to include more and clearer options. Again, this is a work in process, so your feedback and cooperation are appreciated. Knowing who will and won’t be attending the next session makes planning each run much smoother/easier for all concerned. Please be courteous in communicating your intentions. I’m still learning to navigate so kindly be patient.
Sandy has requested a WORD GAME track ( 1 table playing a series of word games like Buy Word, Paperback, Boggle, etc) If you’d like to go on this journey let us know the word games you can bring so we can reserve a seat for you.
On Polyomino night we discovered that we inadvertently hit upon a sub-theme – Amusement Parks – with The Grand Carnival, Tenpenny Park and BarenPark. If you played one of them and were curious about the other two excellent amusement park games…now’s your chance to compare and contrast. All 3 got rave reviews respectively with Sean, Tim and Tony leading them. Request a seat. We’ve had multiple requests for BarenPark and rave reviews for both Grand Carnival and Tenpenny Parks.
Steve can lead Project L and/or Junk Drawer as openers/closers
2/7/2024 @ UNO Park Community Center
IN: Steve & Sandy, Sean, Tim, Armando, Amy, Drew, Tony, Matt, Nicole & Gus, Reimi, Libby, Anna, Chris W, Danny
ON OUR TABLES:
Bonsai (led by Tim) 2023 drafting and tile placement game about growing perfect miniature plants.
Each turn players choose and perform one of two actions: meditate or cultivate. If players meditate, they choose one of the face up cards on the board and take it, along with any Bonsai tiles represented below the card drawn. If players cultivate, they can place their Bonsai tiles from their personal supply. When all common goal tiles have been claimed, then points earned for their Bonsai plants are totaled.
Tiger & Dragon (led by Armando) 2021 shedding card game played with Mahjong-style chunky tiles. Only the player who plays their last tile scores according to that round’s goal card. The first player to 10 points wins.
Onitama (led by Amy) 2014 two-player abstract with perfect information. On a 5×5 grid, both players start with five pawns on their side, with the main pawn in the middle. Each player has two open cards that each display a possible move for any of their pieces. There is a fifth card that cannot be used by either player for the current turn. On a player’s turn, they choose one of their cards, move one of their pieces according to the chosen card, then replace the card used with the fifth card. The other player then likewise chooses one of his cards and moves accordingly. Moving onto one of the opponent’s pawns removes that pawn from the game. Taking the opponent’s main pawn, or moving your main pawn into your opponent’s main pawn’s starting space, wins the game.
Shaolia: Warring States (led by Matt) 2020 4-player open drafting worker placement game (with dice representing workers) that really should only be played with 2 players. There are two ways to win – either dealing 12 damage to your opponent’s palace to destroy it or achieving a culture score of 18 or more..
The game is played through multiple rounds, with rounds consisting of 3 different phases:
A round consists of 3 different phases: Purchasing where cards and resources are bought; building the purchased cards on the territory board; activate cards built using dice.
https://boardgamegeek.com/
Miyabi (led by K-ban) 2019 Michael Kiesling design where players draft tiles representing Japanese garden decorations/items and place them onto their garden grid board. There are both row and column restrictions for placement and in-turn scoring that rewards building on higher levels. End game bonuses for most and 2nd most for a given row complete the scoring. A relaxing puzzle game, but we only tried the base version. There are multiple expansions that raise the complexity level.
Wok and Roll (led by Anna) 2020 dice rolling paper and pencil game with chaining and set collection – where players develop menus for their restaurants.
At The Gates of Loyang (led by Amy) 2009 Uwe Rosenberg designed trading game in which players produce goods by planting them and later selling them to customers. The abilities of some helpers can increase your income or production. This is part of Rosenberg’s Harvest trilogy – along with Agricola and LeHavre.
The White Castle (led by Tim) 2023 resource management, worker placement and dice placement game. Over three rounds, players will send members of their clan to tend the gardens, defend the castle or progress up the social ladder of the nobility. At the end of the match, these will award players victory points in a variety of ways.
In The Year of The Dragon (led by Drew) 2007 Stefan Feld design where players take on the role of Chinese rulers around the year 1000. The game plays out in twelve rounds, with each round representing one month in a year that seems to go from bad to worse. Disease, drought, and attacks from the Mongols may claim lives, but make sure you have enough money to offer a tribute to the Emperor. Players have a set of “person” cards. Each round, you choose one action (most of which call on your workers’ abilities) to help you prepare for the months ahead. Then you play one person card, recruiting that person and placing him into one of your palaces. Each person brings different skills and abilities to help you ride out the year. (Farmers help you gain rice to survive a drought month, Tax Collectors raise money, etc.) At the end of each round, that month’s event is triggered, which may cost you some of your workers, some money, or give you points. Careful planning is the key to surviving “the year of the dragon,” but survival alone may not win you the game.
Bamboo (led by Armando) 2023 action management and tile optimization game where players take on the role of clans that grow bamboo and use the fruits of their labor to take care of their family and thus add happiness points.
16 in attendance on 2/7/2024 at UNO Park Community Center for a Lunar New Year themed Gamenite, celebrating the Year of the Dragon. Our 2/14/2024 session will be a request night – what games did you miss the first time they were played? What new arrivals have our table leader received and are preparing…
16 in attendance on 2/7/2024 at UNO Park Community Center for a Lunar New Year themed Gamenite, celebrating the Year of the Dragon. Our 2/14/2024 session will be a request night – what games did you miss the first time they were played? What new arrivals have our table leader received and are preparing…